The Utter Destruction of Alyssa Mercante at the Hands of Moon Studios' Director
In a viral social media exchange, Alyssa Mercante, an activist from Kotaku known for her misleading takes, lawsuit threats, and contacting my spouse trying to get us divorced, among a laundry list of other personal attacks on the entire video game community at large - recently found herself dismantled by one: Thomas Mahler, the director behind Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. What started as a heated online interaction quickly evolved into an outright schooling by Mahler, whose calm, composed response stood in stark contrast to Mercante’s rude and confrontational approach. Let's start at the top, to show exactly how these people all work together to push a false narrative. This is a perfect exhibit of just that.
The saga began when Quelaag (@xIngenue on Twitter, pictured below - Now in protected mode, because... of course) claimed to be involved in the development of the Ori games.
A claim Mahler questioned with polite skepticism.
She stretched that 'truth' so far that it's safe to say she was straight up lying...
Maher said: "I’m the director behind both Ori games, and I don’t know who you are or how you were affiliated with Ori," Mahler posted, effectively starting the public conversation.
Turns out 'technically' she was involved in 'gaming' because she... worked for a telemarketing company that was hired to research user data for xbox at one point. O...k, but no she didn't 'work' on the actual game like she tried to initially claim. Thx @WizardsOGL for the info:
While the now hidden post because of protected mode, here's what she said caught in a screenshot prior:
For those not familiar... She also deleted the following post:
Because clearly this is a pattern of lies being established. Mahler responded cordially:
This is important because effectively she was pretending to have a standing in the game industry to speak from a place of personal experience and influence - when in reality... it wasn't that at all. As @MadCADLad said on Twitter jokingly:
In response, Mercante jumped in and almost immediately resorted to name-calling, calling Mahler a "dickhead," a move that shifted the tone of the exchange sharply.
But instead of returning the insult, Mahler kindly explained the creative process at Moon Studios, highlighting how normal it is to have disagreements in a collaborative environment like game development.
Tbh, the dude spent WAY more time trying to be cordial with Alyssa than she earned, but as he explained later, he had some free time to address the situation.
Mahler further dismantled Mercante’s behavior by patiently explaining that at Moon Studios, arguments are part of the process, where passionate developers work hard to contribute their ideas and arrive at the best possible solution. He stated,
"With great talent comes lots of enthusiasm and passion, which absolutely leads to arguments... But also, everyone at Moon understands that we're working together as a team."
Without even breaking a sweat, Mahler continued to educate Mercante on the nature of creative work, acknowledging that sometimes tough decisions must be made, and sometimes... work needs to be revisited as part of the ever-evolving creative process.
"Yes, it has also happened that I agreed to a certain decision, playtested some more, and changed the direction after"
He framed it as a standard part of game development. He even cited Legend of Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto’s famous "Upending the Tea Table" metaphor, illustrating that even the best directors pivot during the creative process.
Mercante, unable to match Mahler's professionalism, doubled down, but Mahler ended the exchange by addressing her insults with grace.
"I don’t know why you’re out here cursing out game developers... but I hope that gave you some insight into the creative process and its messiness (and beauty)."
The final nail in the coffin came when Mahler signed off with, "Yours, Dickhead" - using her own insults to disarm and neutralize her aggressiveness with humor. Pure gold. This probably earned Mahler an incoming C&D from Alyssa, as she loves threatening lawsuits to anyone who dares embarrass her publicly... even though she continues to bring this all upon herself. Mahler’s class act won the day, with many on Twitter noting how effortlessly he dismantled Mercante’s claims and attitude.
The whole entire exchange highlighted a pretty significant issue in the industry: the gigantic gap between "journalism" and game development. Mercante’s extremely rude approach didn’t stand a chance against Mahler’s calm, educated, and experienced explanation of how real game development works. This is why the activists posing as journalists need to move on to another past career. It hurts the entire industry attacking the devs making great games just to get attention.
Fufu (@fufuwaydayo) put it best:
“It’s probably the correct decision for someone in your position, but man, you were way nicer to her than she deserves.”
Alyssa Mercante may have come into this exchange with her violent word warrior guns a-blazin', but Thomas Mahler calmly dismantled her, one fact at a time, while maintaining a level of kindness that left her with little more than her insults to fall back on.
~Smash
